Coming of Spring
by Falcom
Summary: He didn’t know how long exactly he had been sitting there, but he knew that it had been long enough for the girl he was watching to have fallen ten times and be completely soaked by the melting snow. [Young Sakura and Kakashi interaction OneShot]


**EDITTED ON MARCH 31****st****, 2008 FOR MINOR CORRECTIONS**

**A/N:** Hi! So…I guess I'm just doing a bunch of one-shots, ne? lol

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto-sama does.

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**Coming of Spring**

_A KakaSaku One-Shot_

He really had tried to hold in the chuckle that threatened to slip out. He really did. But…some things were just far too entertaining to let slip by.

His current location? A mostly deserted field of grass that he had just been calmly passing through while _attempting_ to avoid the puddles of water that dotted the ground here and there. Prior to starting to go by tree of course. His purpose? Well…he _had_ been on his way to report to the Hokage of his successful mission, but…things didn't exactly turn out that way. The reason? A wry smile peaked out from underneath the silver-haired ANBU's mask.

Nobody would believe him even if he told them.

"No!"

The squeal of annoyance tore 18-year-old Hatake Kakashi out of his musing as he centered his gaze on what, or rather, who, had stolen his attention and gave him an actual _true_ excuse for being late. The little pink-haired girl that he had been watching now stood over a miniature version of a snowman, mud and water dripping down off of her light red dress down onto her sandals. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as she stared down in defeat at the slowly melting snow piece in front of her that she had been frantically trying to rebuild for the past hour.

Yes, he had been watching her for an hour. There was nothing wrong with that!

A nagging voice in the back of his mind brought up the argument that some could see him as a potential pedophile by that simple act alone, but he wisely chose to ignore the comment.

Deciding to let his presence known, Kakashi jumped out of the tree that stood just feet away from the little girl and landed on the ground with a soft 'splash'. The girl, so caught up in her own 'problems', didn't hear the noise caused by the ANBU member until he was directly behind her.

Rather than jump away from him screaming, not…that he had expected her to, the girl only stared up at him in wonderment before returning her gaze to the destroyed figure of her snowman. A resigned sigh slipped out as she crouched down next to the small, watery pile of snow and gently poked it with a stick that she had been using as one of the arms.

Silence spanned between the two as the young girl continued to poke what little life the snow had in it to pieces. When all that was left was a puddle of water, the girl dropped the stick and stood to face Kakashi. Her expression morphed from one of disappointment to one of curiosity. "What's your name, ojii-san?"

"Yare yare…" Kakashi sighed as a sweat drop trekked its way down the side of his face. His sole visible eye crinkled slightly in amusement as he stared down at the young girl. "I'm only 18 you know."

"_Eh?!_" The girl's eyes widened slightly in surprise while her cheeks adopted a light shade of pink that matched the color of her hair. "But then…why is your hair silver?"

"It's always been like that." Kakashi shrugged as he unconsciously ran his gloved hand through said silver hair, glanced around in a suspicious manner, and decided that it was safe enough to reveal his true name. Squatting down to her level, the ANBU member added, "My name is Hatake Kakashi. And your's?"

"Haruno Sakura." Sakura chirped as a smile covered her face. She clumsily held out her hand for Kakashi to shake. "Yoroshiku!"

Kakashi sighed softly as he smiled slightly. He grabbed Sakura's hand with his own and couldn't help but notice just how much _larger_ his own was compared to hers. Redirecting his thoughts to the matter that was waiting expectantly in front of him, he gave Sakura's hand a gentle squeeze. "Hai, yoroshiku."

Their greeting ending in awkward silence as Sakura slowly pried her hand out of Kakashi's grip before he even realized that he had been holding onto her hand longer than need be. With a quiet cough, Kakashi motioned towards the puddle of water in front of the girl. "So what were you doing?"

Sakura's face scrunched up into one of annoyance as she huffed loudly. "Ino-pig was supposed to come and help me try and keep winter here for a few more hours, but she left complaining that it was too muddy so I had to try all on my own. I _knew_ that I couldn't do it alone!"

Keep winter…? Kakashi chuckled lightly at the simple mind of children before letting his hand rest softly on Sakura's slightly muddy hair. "But wouldn't you rather have spring come around so you can pick flowers with…Ino-chan?" He had no idea who the girl was, but he figured she was a friend by the…_interesting_ nickname that Sakura had for her.

"Ino-pig's family owns the flower shop down the road, so she knows too much about flowers. She always brags about her flowers being better than mine." Sakura sighed as her eyes lowered to the ground. "I'm just not good at anything…"

"I'm sure you're good at something, Sakura-chan." Kakashi ruffled the girl's hair a little before standing upright again, his hand still positioned on her head. "You may not notice it now, but you will some day."

Sakura growled lightly in annoyance as she swatted Kakashi's hand away from her hair. "But that doesn't matter, not when I have this huge forehead. I'll never be as beautiful as Ino-pig is…"

At the dejected look on the girl's face, Kakashi winked and started to walk away with a lazy wave. "I'm sure you'll grow up to be a beautiful girl, Sakura. And if anyone tells you otherwise, they're just lying to get you down. Anyway, I must be on my way. I was due to turn in a report to the Hokage three hours ago. Ja ne!"

"Mou! And you call yourself a ninja!" Sakura shouted at his retreating back which caused a slight chuckle to slip through his lips. Yes, he called himself a ninja, and he was a good one…no matter how bad his habits of lateness tended to be.

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_8 Years Later_

Sakura smiled softly as she took in the wavy, silver hair of her sensei in front of her. She wasn't sure if he remembered what he had told her those years ago, but she certainly did.

"Arigato…Kaka-sensei…" She whispered aloud before she could figure out what she was doing. When she saw Kakashi's head tilt in her direction in puzzlement, the smile grew into a grin. "It's nothing, Kaka-sensei." She chirped happily as she quickly caught up with him and continued to run at his side. "It's just, isn't the coming of spring beautiful?"

Underneath his mask, Kakashi smiled a little as he chuckled softly. "Indeed…certainly brings back memories, ne Sakura?"

Sakura's eyes widened slightly at Kakashi's response as she spared him a glance. So he too remembered…

Kakashi grinned mischievously as he quickly ruffled her hair before speeding up slightly. "C'mon Sakura, let's hurry before Naruto and Sasuke arrive before us and end up killing each other."

Slightly miffed at Kakashi's childish movement, Sakura couldn't hold in the grin that quickly spread across her lips as she sped up as well. "Hai, Kaka-sensei. We don't want that, do we?"

"Oh…I dunno…" Kakashi chuckled softly at the expression Sakura sent him along with the light punch to his shoulder.

She had grown up beautifully indeed.

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**A/N:** yay! So whatcha think of it? Read and review please!


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